Brandtech hires former Facebook creative chief Mark D'Arcy as group CCO

Former Facebook creative chief Mark D'Arcy has been appointed chief creative officer and partner of The Brandtech Group, a creative, digital and media holding company with strong ties to the social network.

D'Arcy, who left Facebook last autumn, will report to The Brandtech Group founder and chief executive David Jones and help teach its clients how to use social media, as well leading technologies such as Web3, augmented reality and the so-called metaverse at the group. The CCO role is newly created and his arrival brings the company's total number of partners to 19.

At The Brandtech Group, D'Arcy will work with a client portfolio that includes Meta, Adidas, Danone, LVMH, Microsoft, Renault-Nissan, PayPal, TikTok and Unilever.

Jones described D'Arcy as someone who "taught brands how to use social media", adding: "I've known him for more than a decade and he's an amazing talent. With Mark you get brilliant creativity, deep business acumen and a unique understanding of how to leverage technology to drive growth. Most people have only one of those skill sets.

"He will be able to bring his unique insights from spending 10 years as the chief creative officer of the world's largest social media platform to our clients, while forging a new path for them in Web3 and the metaverse."

D'Arcy left Facebook, where he was chief creative officer of in-house creative strategy team Creative Shop and vice-president of global business marketing, in September last year following a decade at the social media giant. He became Facebook CCO in 2011 and was given the business marketing role in 2018.

He said: "There have never been more creative opportunities for brands to use technology to reinvent how they engage and serve their customers, and drive growth. As well as sharing The Brandtech Group's commitment to building and growing brands with purpose, I'm also impressed by its growing network of extraordinary next-generation companies and its amazing talent.

"They are not just talking about the future of tech-enabled marketing but are actually building it into the heart of some of the best brands in the world. That's why I've joined."

The Brandtech Group was previously called You & Mrs Jones before changing its name at the start of this year. It owns agencies including Gravity Road, Oliver and Brandtech Media.

It is headquartered in New York and has operations in countries including the UK, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, South Africa and Australia.

It was founded in 2015 by former Havas chief executive and Facebook Client Council founding member Jones (the eponymous Jones in its previous guise). In its first quarter 2022 results, it recorded net revenue organic growth of 37.3%, a continuation of its "exceptional growth trajectory", the group said.